Debt stricken teachers now get reprieve of their debt burden

[webfact]

Debt stricken teachers now get reprieve of their debt burden



BANGKOK: -- Debt stricken teachers are now seeing some relief of their debt burden after the government has given instruction to the state-owned Government Savings Bank to help them.

The government considers teaching profession to be one of the groups that have the highest amount of outstanding debts.

Following the instruction, the Government Savings Bank (GSB) has now come up with measures to alleviate teacher’s debts.

The bank now allows indebted teachers to register for eligibility until the end of July.

Under the GSB debt moratorium scheme, it classifies teacher’s debts into four groups.

The first group are teachers being sued by banks or who had their properties seized by courts. This group is considered the most critical and the GSB will allow a leniency period by giving an interest payment break up to 3 years. They are however required to repay the overdue interest and principal when the period expires.

The second group are teachers who have defaulted on loans for 12 consecutive months and in accordance with the new measures will have their interests payments slashed by half for a period of 2 years but following that, will have to repay the principal plus the remaining interest.

The third group are those who have defaulted on loans not exceeding a period of 12 months and the GSB will help them by implementing debt restructuring.

The final group are regular loan applicants who will be given a leniency period for principal repayment for 2 years but are required to pay monthly interest payments.

GSB president and CEO Chatchai Phayuhanaveechai stated that applicants must register with all GSB branches across the country from now until July 31 and must provide consent from their guarantors.

Furthermore, they must allow the Comptroller Department to deduct payments from their salaries and agree not to incur new debts with the Savings and Credit Cooperative.

He said at present there are an estimated 500,000 teachers with outstanding debts with the GSB throughout the country and of these, more than 1,000 are classified as critical cases under the first group.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/debt-stricken-teachers-now-get-reprieve-of-their-debt-burden


-- Thai PBS 2015-07-15

[NextStationBangkok]

Sounds like more complicated than Greece bailout.

This kind of schemes, encourage teachers to borrow and not to repay the loans, so that government can bail them out from banks.

What about teachers who honestly paid their loans back ?

Instead they can review the salaries, and increase and take that amount for repayment. Those who repaid can get better salaries.

[uty6543]

If the government were to cancel all debts to illegal loan sharks I could understand that but to help a well paid profession who through their own foolishness have got themselves into financial trouble, well the reason for offering help seems unjustified

Crazy idea: you borrow money you pay it back.

[jerojero]

And why are teachers in such great debt? Unlike farmers who have to buy farming materials or fuel for tractors. And those who cannot pay loans because of drought destroying crops. Don't understand, given teachers earn far more than 300 baht per day that hundreds of thousands of workers merely earn.

Edited July 15, 2015 by jerojero

[NeverSure]

They had that new home scheme for government employees and the new car scheme and some teachers did both. I have a teacher friend in Isaan who was doing fine living in a small house on her parents property and having a scooter. Now she's buried in the payment for a new house and car and even some furnishings. She's just a friend and has never asked for help although I did catch all of her payments up for her several months ago. She was buying furniture for the inside and landscaping for the outside and curtains etc. instead of making payments.

Welcome to the Western credit mentality.

Cheers

[NeverSure]

^^^

And why are teachers in such great debt? Unlike farmers who have to buy farming materials or fuel for tractors. And those who cannot pay loans because of drought destroying crops. Don't understand, given teachers earn far more than 300 baht per day that hundreds of thousands of workers merely earn.

[givenall]

What's wrong with this culture. No one has a second thoughts about going in debts. And then expect government to bail them out. The worst part is the government often does or consider to do so

[Jessi]

They had that new home scheme for government employees and the new car scheme and some teachers did both. I have a teacher friend in Isaan who was doing fine living in a small house on her parents property and having a scooter. Now she's buried in the payment for a new house and car and even some furnishings. She's just a friend and has never asked for help although I did catch all of her payments up for her several months ago. She was buying furniture for the inside and landscaping for the outside and curtains etc. instead of making payments.

Welcome to the Western credit mentality.

Cheers

Spot on!

I think there are a lot of Thai's in this situation not just teachers.

Running around in their new cars and flashing the Visa/ Mastercard

to show everyone that they have made it.

Now they have a chance to loose it all after they have lost their employment.

Its has started already.

[apetley]

I know several teachers and it is insanely easy for them to borrow money beyond their ability to repay. There appears to be no checks when they apply for a loan and now there appears very little consequence for not repaying the loan.

[ehs818]

Teachers are NOT well paid here. The thing they look forward to after living a life of denial is a monthly pension when they are old.

[soalbundy]

Teachers are NOT well paid here. The thing they look forward to after living a life of denial is a monthly pension when they are old.

Two qualified teachers in my village not yet above the age of 25 get 30,000 Baht a month. Not bad for a village school in Isaan. They are twins and live with their parents, first thing they did was take out a loan for a million Baht to buy their father a lorry.

Edited July 15, 2015 by soalbundy

[sammygood]

who will teach the teachers :

don't spend more than you earn / can afford

[micmichd]

They had that new home scheme for government employees and the new car scheme and some teachers did both. I have a teacher friend in Isaan who was doing fine living in a small house on her parents property and having a scooter. Now she's buried in the payment for a new house and car and even some furnishings. She's just a friend and has never asked for help although I did catch all of her payments up for her several months ago. She was buying furniture for the inside and landscaping for the outside and curtains etc. instead of making payments.

Welcome to the Western credit mentality.

Cheers

If you have a new job with permanent income and move to a new house you might need some investments in the beginning. Once the investments are maid you can start to pay back credit. What's wrong with that? Edited July 15, 2015 by micmichd

[micmichd]

They had that new home scheme for government employees and the new car scheme and some teachers did both. I have a teacher friend in Isaan who was doing fine living in a small house on her parents property and having a scooter. Now she's buried in the payment for a new house and car and even some furnishings. She's just a friend and has never asked for help although I did catch all of her payments up for her several months ago. She was buying furniture for the inside and landscaping for the outside and curtains etc. instead of making payments.

Welcome to the Western credit mentality.

Cheers

Spot on!

I think there are a lot of Thai's in this situation not just teachers.

Running around in their new cars and flashing the Visa/ Mastercard

to show everyone that they have made it.

Now they have a chance to loose it all after they have lost their employment.

Its has started already.

There are always optimists and pessimists. It's usually the optimists who make it.

If everything fails, then Thailand has an unemployment security.

[eliotness]

They had that new home scheme for government employees and the new car scheme and some teachers did both. I have a teacher friend in Isaan who was doing fine living in a small house on her parents property and having a scooter. Now she's buried in the payment for a new house and car and even some furnishings. She's just a friend and has never asked for help although I did catch all of her payments up for her several months ago. She was buying furniture for the inside and landscaping for the outside and curtains etc. instead of making payments.

Welcome to the Western credit mentality.

Cheers

I've seen that also in my village - many of the big new houses and new cars are belonging to teachers. When I asked my wife "how come?" she just said that teachers get big loans from government - and now it seems the government helps them if they can't afford to pay back those loans. Welcome to Thai Disneyland!

[usa4079]

here is a better idea. how about the schools pay the teachers proper wages for the extremely difficult jobs they do. then they wont be in debt this much

[usa4079]

pay a decent wage for a very taxing job and these people probably wont have so much debt... if they use their heads when spending. thai teachers for the most part work very hard and earn very little. they want a semi decent standard of living for the very difficult job they do. is that really too much to ask?

[chrisinth]

pay a decent wage for a very taxing job and these people probably wont have so much debt... if they use their heads when spending. thai teachers for the most part work very hard and earn very little. they want a semi decent standard of living for the very difficult job they do. is that really too much to ask?

Ask any recognized qualified welder, or painter for that matter how much they earn compared to teachers. And then tell them teachers work hard to earn very little.................

And the majority of the time I could guarantee the welder (or painter's) qualifications are properly earned.

The above is just one example out of many where workers generally don't get in serious debt because the government loans aren't available to them to get into trouble in the first place.................

[12DrinkMore]

If the government were to cancel all debts to illegal loan sharks I could understand that but to help a well paid profession who through their own foolishness have got themselves into financial trouble, well the reason for offering help seems unjustified

Crazy idea: you borrow money you pay it back.

Yeah, the Greeks must be crazy too, they don't think they should pay it back either.

[12DrinkMore]

I know several teachers and it is insanely easy for them to borrow money beyond their ability to repay. There appears to be no checks when they apply for a loan and now there appears very little consequence for not repaying the loan.

Did you read the OP?

Nobody is being let off repaying the debts.

They have a couple of years reprieve on interest repayments.

They have simply kicked the can (of worms) down the road.

[12DrinkMore]

Teachers are NOT well paid here. The thing they look forward to after living a life of denial is a monthly pension when they are old.

Two qualified teachers in my village not yet above the age of 25 get 30,000 Baht a month. Not bad for a village school in Isaan. They are twins and live with their parents, first thing they did was take out a loan for a million Baht to buy their father a lorry.

That is pretty good for new teachers. I am surprised.

However I don't see a problem with taking out a loan to buy a lorry. It will surely be a productive imcome generating asset, able to pay for itself? This is absolutely the best use of borrowing money. It will give their father a job and income.

Way better than borrowing for consumption or to surround yourself with pleasant bricks and mortar.

[Rykbanlor]

One of the known benefits of becoming a civil servant (this I heard from nurses and teachers) that makes up for the low income start out is the ease under which they can take out bank loans, and the fact that they have job security.

Living within your means helps. I have never been great at saving, have never been a high wage earner, but I have never had debt or used a credit card.

[apetley]

I know several teachers and it is insanely easy for them to borrow money beyond their ability to repay. There appears to be no checks when they apply for a loan and now there appears very little consequence for not repaying the loan.

Did you read the OP?

Nobody is being let off repaying the debts.

They have a couple of years reprieve on interest repayments.

They have simply kicked the can (of worms) down the road.

Yes I read the op.

I'll repeat, I know several teachers, one of them is a sister of my wife and all of them have huge loans.

Some of them are YEARS behind on repayments and this announcement adds even more years.

I'll stand by my statement that there appears to be little consequence for non payment of loans.

Continually 'kicking the can' down the road is no solution.

[12DrinkMore]

I know several teachers and it is insanely easy for them to borrow money beyond their ability to repay. There appears to be no checks when they apply for a loan and now there appears very little consequence for not repaying the loan.

Did you read the OP?

Nobody is being let off repaying the debts.

They have a couple of years reprieve on interest repayments.

They have simply kicked the can (of worms) down the road.

Yes I read the op.

I'll repeat, I know several teachers, one of them is a sister of my wife and all of them have huge loans.

Some of them are YEARS behind on repayments and this announcement adds even more years.

I'll stand by my statement that there appears to be little consequence for non payment of loans.

Continually 'kicking the can' down the road is no solution.

OK, but the article did not go into the final outcome.

As long as the can still finds a bit of road to land on, then nobody takes a hit.

When it lands off the road, I presume the bank reposesses the property and holds it on the books until it can be sold without a loss to the bank.

Apparently there is a similiar issue with the army generals.

And if they can live in the property until they die, well, who is the loser?

Edited July 15, 2015 by 12DrinkMore

[apetley]

I know several teachers and it is insanely easy for them to borrow money beyond their ability to repay. There appears to be no checks when they apply for a loan and now there appears very little consequence for not repaying the loan.

Did you read the OP?

Nobody is being let off repaying the debts.

They have a couple of years reprieve on interest repayments.

They have simply kicked the can (of worms) down the road.

Yes I read the op.

I'll repeat, I know several teachers, one of them is a sister of my wife and all of them have huge loans.

Some of them are YEARS behind on repayments and this announcement adds even more years.

I'll stand by my statement that there appears to be little consequence for non payment of loans.

Continually 'kicking the can' down the road is no solution.

OK, but the article did not go into the final outcome.

As long as the can still finds a bit of road to land on, then nobody takes a hit.

When it lands off the road, I presume the bank reposesses the property and holds it on the books until it can be sold without a loss to the bank.

Apparently there is a similiar issue with the army generals.

And if they can live in the property until they die, well, who is the loser?

My sister in law, the teacher, when I asked her why it was so easy for teachers to get loans and why so many were in horrendous debt told me, in her opinion, it was to stop teachers leaving the profession because whilst they remained a teacher they weren't chased for any money owing.

Continual rolling over of debt and the type of relief the Greeks can only dream about makes me think she may not be far from the truth.

[12DrinkMore]

As long as the can still finds a bit of road to land on, then nobody takes a hit.

When it lands off the road, I presume the bank reposesses the property and holds it on the books until it can be sold without a loss to the bank.

Apparently there is a similiar issue with the army generals.

And if they can live in the property until they die, well, who is the loser?

My sister in law, the teacher, when I asked her why it was so easy for teachers to get loans and why so many were in horrendous debt told me, in her opinion, it was to stop teachers leaving the profession because whilst they remained a teacher they weren't chased for any money owing.

Continual rolling over of debt and the type of relief the Greeks can only dream about makes me think she may not be far from the truth.

Yep, the eternal debt slaves.

We humans are just suckers for it. Want it now, need it now, just lend me the money.

Not just Thailand, but all over.

They are all on the treadmill.

Slaves to their desires.

Poor sods.

[Happy Grumpy]

And why are teachers in such great debt? Unlike farmers who have to buy farming materials or fuel for tractors. And those who cannot pay loans because of drought destroying crops. Don't understand, given teachers earn far more than 300 baht per day that hundreds of thousands of workers merely earn.

The latest Honda Civic isn't going to buy itself, you know.

[NeverSure]

here is a better idea. how about the schools pay the teachers proper wages for the extremely difficult jobs they do. then they wont be in debt this much

pay a decent wage for a very taxing job and these people probably wont have so much debt... if they use their heads when spending. thai teachers for the most part work very hard and earn very little. they want a semi decent standard of living for the very difficult job they do. is that really too much to ask?

LOL. Unless they learn how to manage money, and learn that debt is slavery, they'd just borrow even more just as their Western counterparts who make multiples as much as they do stay up to their eyeballs in debt.

[MROLL320]

The government give the teachers loans, it keeps them working beyond retirement to keep up the payments...

[rametindallas]

here is a better idea. how about the schools pay the teachers proper wages for the extremely difficult jobs they do. then they wont be in debt this much

for the extremely difficult jobs they do

How difficult is it when every student get socially passed to the next grade level when many/most don't even pay attention in class. Just show up for work and collect your pay and even if you don't bother to teach your students anything, the Civil Service will protect your job. Doesn't sound difficult when they have no responsibility to teach or for the students to learn.

.